Brett Lawrie and manager John Farrell were both tossed in the ninth inning Tuesday night in an ugly ending to an error-filled contest that ran the Jays’ losing streak to three games.

Home plate umpire Bill Miller called two late strikes on Brett Lawrie, forcing the Blue Jays third baseman back after he had already started running towards first base. With three balls already counted, Lawrie assumed he had drawn a walk. Twice.

By:Brendan KennedySports Reporter, Published on Wed May 16 2012

Brett Lawrie’s boiled-over rage reflects the frustration right now among the Blue Jays, who are stumbling to the quarter-mark of the season mired in a 3-7 stretch over their last 10 games.

Lawrie was ejected and will likely be suspended after angrily slamming his batting helmet — which bounced and hit home-plate umpire Bill Miller — following a questionable called third strike in the ninth inning of the Jays’ 4-3 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays on Tuesday night.

“I felt like the bat was taken completely out of Brett’s hands,” said manager John Farrell, who was also ejected after arguing the same call. “Not only the 3-1 pitch, but the 3-2 pitch as well. Those are not strikes.”

With a 3-1 count and hard-throwing Fernando Rodney on the mound for the Rays, Lawrie thought he had ball four and jogged about a third of the way to first base before Miller called the pitch a strike.

Lawrie looked stunned, freezing on the basepath.

“I thought it was ball four so I dropped my bat and I ran,” Lawrie explained after the game. “Turns out it was a strike and I had to come back and do it all over again.”

As he walked back to the batter’s box and picked up his bat he stared in disbelief at Miller.

“I don’t even remember what I said, really, I was just frustrated at the call.”

The next pitch was noticeably high. Again Lawrie started toward first before Miller called the pitch a strike. Then came the rage and the helmet launching.

It looked as if Miller’s call was retribution for Lawrie showing him up the pitch before. Lawrie said he didn’t know if that’s what Miller was thinking.

“That’s totally not the way I wanted to come across,” Lawrie said. “I just thought it was ball four and dropped my bat and started running because it was kind of a late call.”

He said he didn’t mean to hit Miller with his helmet.

“That was not my intention at all,” he said. “I’ve never, ever done anything to go at an umpire before in my life, and I didn’t mean to tonight. I apologize for that. It just kind of took an unlucky bounce and I think it got him so my apologies for that. . . . I felt like I had let down my teammates a little bit. I wanted to get on base and help them out and I felt that was kind of taken away from me.”

Despite Lawrie’s apology and insistence that he didn’t intend to hit Miller when he rifled his helmet into the dirt, the Jays will likely be without their everyday third baseman for at least a few games.

“I’m sure that will be reviewed by the league,” is all Farrell would say.

Miller was subjected to further abuse as he exited the field when he was pelted in the shoulder by a half-full beer tossed by one of the 15,612 frustrated Jays fans.

The fireworks came at the tail end of a tough loss for the club, which extends their losing streak to three games.

Starter Henderson Alvarez looked good through his first six innings, owning the lower part of the strike zone. He threw 70 per cent of his pitches for strikes and didn’t give up a single walk. But he allowed 10 hits, four in the Rays’ three-run seventh.

Rays ace David Price ultimately outduelled Alvarez. The left-hander also did not issue any free passes and despite a rough third hung in through seven complete innings, giving up only six hits.

Defensive miscues once again undid the Jays, who have been making a habit lately of giving teams extra outs.

The four errors incurred by the Jays on Tuesday gives them 12 in their last eight games, a stretch in which the Jays have lost five.

Edwin Encarnacion hit his 12th homer of the season, tying him with Chicago’s Adam Dunn for third place in the American League behind Josh Hamilton of the Rangers (18) and the Yankees’ Curtis Granderson (13).

With the loss, the Jays’ record drops to 19-18. They lost both games against the Rays, dropping their record against AL East rivals to 4-9. On Wednesday they kick off a two-game series against the New York Yankees

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